Crimping apparatus

ABSTRACT

Crimping apparatus for feeding and crimping electrical contacts or the like of a type having a hollow sleeve portion at one end and a reduced diameter portion at the other end. The apparatus includes a crimping mechanism which indents the sleeve portion to fix it to a wire inserted therein. A reciprocable plunger moves the contact into the crimping mechanism and is mounted within a tube having a slot therein through which a contact is dropped. A vibratory feed bowl is positioned above the plunger and supplies the contacts seriatim to an orienting mechanism which includes an arm pivotally mounted on a base plate to receive the contacts one-by-one from the bowl and transfers them to an orienting slot in the plate to drop the contacts with a predetermined orientation of the sleeve and pin portions of the contact into a feed tube for guiding the properly oriented contact to the slot in the plunger tube.

United States Patent [191 Kaczmarek [54] CRIMPING APPARATUS [75] Inventor: Leonard J. Kaczmarek, Wonderlake, Ill.

[7 3] Assignee: The Bunker-Ramo Corporation,

Oak Brook, Ill.

[22] Filed: Feb. 8, 1971 [2]] Appl. No.: 113,341

[52] US. Cl. ..72/402, 72/420, 72/424, 29/203 D, 29/211 D [51] Int. Cl ..B2ld 43/20, B23q 7/10 [58] Field of Search ..72/424, 420, 402; 29/203 DT, 211 D; 269/287 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,056,446 10/1962 Schmidt ..29/203 DT 3,523,316 11/1967 Alexander.... ..29/211 D 3,165,139 l/1965 Whitney ..29/203 DT 3,460,230 8/1969 Moulin ..29/203 DT Primary ExaminerCharles W. Lanham Assistant Examiner-R. M. Rogers Attorney-Frederick M. Arbuckle [57] ABSTRACT Crimping apparatus for feeding and crimping electrical contacts or the like of a type having a hollow sleeve portion at one end and a reduced diameter portion at the other end. The apparatus includes a crimping mechanism which indents the sleeve portion to fix it to a wire inserted therein. A reciprocable plunger moves the contact into the crimping mechanism and is mounted within a tube having a slot therein through which a contact is dropped. A vibratory feed bowl is positioned above the plunger and supplies the contacts seriatim to an orienting mechanism which includes an arm pivotally mounted on a base plate to receive the contacts one-by-one from the bowl and transfers them to an orienting slot in the plate to drop the contacts with a predetermined orientation of the sleeve and pin portions of the contact into a feed tube for guiding the properly oriented contact to the slot in the plunger tube.

6 Claims, 16 Drawing Figures PATENTED 3. 733 883 SHEET 1 BF 3 INVENTOR LEONARD J. KACZMAREK ATTORNEYS PATENTEU 3, 733 .883

SHEET 2 [1F 3 Lhm FIG 9 FIG 15 I05 IO3A ' INVENTOR LEONARD J. KACZMAREK ATTORNEYS PATENTEU HAYZZIQYS 3 733,883

SHEET 3 [IF 3 FIG 4 INVENTOR LEONARD J. KACZMAREK ATTORNEYS 1 CRIMPING APPARATUS This invention relates to a crimping apparatus, and more particularly relates to an apparatus which feeds a crimps items, such as electrical contacts of a type having a hollow sleeve portion at one end and a reduced diameter pin portion at the other end so that the sleeve may be crimped inwardly into a rigid gripping relation to the end portion of a wire inserted therein. The reduced diameter pin portion may be of either pin or socket configuration to act either as a male or a female contact.

Crimping machines have been employed for the purpose of enabling an operator to fix one work piece to another, such as an electrical contact to the end portion of a wire. The wire is inserted into the sleeve portion of the contact which is held in place in a crimping position within a crimping mechanism of the machine, and then the operator actuates a switch to cause the crimping mechanism to indent the sleeve inwardly. The crimpted contact and the end portion of the wire fixed thereto is removed from the crimping mechanism, and another contact is then moved to the crimping position, whereby another cycle of operation may be repeated. However, the heretofore known crimping machines have not been entirely satisfactory for some applications, since the mechanisms of the machines have been unduly complex in nature, and thus frequently require costly repairs or replacements. Such failures of the machines have been costly not only from a standpoint of labor and materials in servicing the machines, but also costly from a manufacturing point of view due to the production delays during the down time of the machines. Thus, it would be highly desirable to have a reliable and efficient crimping machine.

Therefore, the principal object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved crimping apparatus, which is highly reliable and efficient in operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved crimping apparatus, which is rugged in construction and which is fast and efficient in operation for feeding and crimping contacts to fasten them to the end portions of wires inserted therein.

Briefly, the above and further objects are realized in accordance with the present invention by providing a crimping apparatus, which includes contact supply means positioned above a positioning mechanism including a plunger for moving the contacts one-by-one into a crimping mechanism, and an orienting mechanism for receiving the contacts one-by-one directly from the supply means and for dropping each contact with a predetermined orientation relative to its pin and sleeve portions into a feed tube for guiding it to the plunger. The orienting means includes a pivotallymounted arm for moving a contact to an orienting slot in a plate. The supply means includes a vibrator for imparting vibratory motion to a supply bowl resiliently mounted on a support structure, and the plate of the orienting mechanism is connected to the support structure so that the plate is gently vibrated to assist the movement of the contacts to and through the orienting slot without interfering with the orienting operation. In accordance with a specific feature of the present invention, a resilient annular disc is provided for frictionally gripping the sleeve portion of the contact to hold it in place in the crimping position within the crimping mechanism.

These and further objects of the present invention will be understood more fully and completely from the following detailed description when considered with reference to the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a crimping apparatus employing the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of an electrical contact, which may be fed and crimped by the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the orienting mechanism of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a pivotal arm of the mechanism of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a base plate of the mechanism of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the plate of FIG. 5 taken substantially along the line VI-VI thereof;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the plate of FIG. 5 taken substantially along the line VII-VII thereof;

FIG. 8 is a vertical cross-sectional elevational view of the orienting mechanism of FIG. 3 and a chute for receiving the properly oriented contact:

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary, enlarged side elevational view of a positioning device for the crimping mechanism of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view of the positioning device of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary cross-sectional enlarged view of the guide for the crimping mechanism of FIG. 9 taken substantially along the line XIXI thereof;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the guide shown in FIG. 11 taken substantially along the line XII-XII thereof;

FIG. 13 is a front elevational enlarged view of the guide of the positioning device shown in FIG. 9 taken substantially along the line XIII-XIII thereof;

FIG. 14 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the guide of the positioning device shown in FIG. 13 taken substantially along the line XIV-XIV thereof;

FIG. 15 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of an end portion of a plunger of the positioning device; and

FIG. 16 is an enlarged detail of the crimping mecha nism, as seen with the guide block and cover plate removed.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof, there is shown a crimping apparatus 10 which is constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention for crimping work pieces, such as the electrical contact 12 having a hollow sleeve portion 14 at one end and a reduced diameter pin portion 16 at the opposite end thereof. The pin portion 16 may be ofa conventional solid pin configuration to act as a male contact or it may be of a hollow socket configuration to act as a female contact, and it is to be understood that the apparatus 10 may also be adapted for feeding and crimping other similar articles as well. The apparatus 10 includes a vibratory contact supply device 20 for receiving a supply of contacts and for feeding the contacts seriatim in end-to-end relation to an orienting mechanism 22, which is arranged to receive the contacts one-by-one directly from the supply device 20 and to drop each contact with a predetermined orientation of the sleeve and pin portions thereof into a chute device 24. A tube 26 is connected at its upper end to the outlet of the chute 24 and at its lower end to a positioning mechanism 28 (FIG. 9) for receiving the contacts 12 and for inserting the sleeve portions 14 of the contacts 12 into a crimping mechanism 31 disposed in front of the positioning mechanism 28. The crimping mechanism 31 includes at the front thereof a guide block 33 (FIG. 14) having a funnelshaped guide opening 35 so that an end portion of a wire (not shown) may be inserted by an operator into the opening 35 and then into the sleeve portion of the contact supported within the neck portion of the funnel-shaped opening 35. As shown in FIGS. 1, 9 and 16 a lever 37 of the crimping mechanism 31 is disposed between the guide block 33 and the positioning mechanism 28 and is arranged to rotate, in response to operation of a double-acting piston cylinder assembly 38, a plurality of radially-disposed reciprocably-mounted crimping dies a cam ring 37a (FIG. 16), which actuates 42 surrounding the crimping position in the crimping mechanism 31 to move the dies radially inwardly when the sleeve 14 is positioned in the crimping position with the end portion of a wire (not shown) inserted therein to indent the sleeve portion 14 inwardly into a rigid gripping relation to the end portion of the wire. A wiresize selecting knob 39 is mounted below the block 35 to enable the operator to adjust the travel of the dies for different size contacts. For a detailed explanation of the operation of a set of crimping dies, reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,086,574. The apparatus includes a support base 40, and a plurality of legs 41 fixedly mounted to and extending upwardly from the base 40 to support a plate 43, which in turn supports the vibratory contact supply device 20. The device includes a supply bowl 45 which is supported above the plate 43 by means of a plurality of resilient legs 47, which are fixed to and extend upwardly from the plate 43. A vibrator 49 is disposed below the bowl 45 to impart vibratory reciprocation to the bowl and thus to feed the contacts along a helical track 52 (partially shown in FIG. 3) extending spirally along the inner conically-shaped wall of the bowl to feed the contacts seriatim in end-to-end relation to the orienting mechanism 22. For further information concerning the operation of a vibratory supply bowl, reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,150,762.

An upstanding arm 54 is rigidly connected to the sup port plate 43 by means of a link 56 to support the chute 24 and the orienting device 22, which has a portion thereof disposed within a recess opening 58 in the rim of the bowl 45 to receive the contacts being supplied thereto from the track 52, and which is inclined downwardly therefrom at an angle of approximately 18 from the bowl 45 to cause the contacts to enter the mechanism 22 under the force of gravity. Moreover, since the mechanism 22 is connected to the plate 43, gentle vibrations are imparted to the mechanism 22. from the plate 43 to assist the contacts in their movement through the mechanism 22 without interfering with its operation. In this regard, the plate 43 does not vibrate to the same extent as the bowl 45, but the plate 43 is vibrated to a lesser extent to in turn gently vibrate the mechanism 22.

Considering now the orienting mechanism 22 in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 8 of the drawings, the mechanism 22 generally comprises a base plate 61 having an arcuate edge portion 63 engaging the bowl 45 within its recess opening 58 and having an arm 65 which is pivotally mounted on the base plate 61 at 67. Pivotally connected to one end of the arm 65 at a pivot point 69 is a piston rod 72 of a piston cylinder assembly 74, which is bolted to the base plate 61. An open-ended elongated slot 76 in the opposite arcuate end of the arm 65 extends in alignment with the pivot point 67, whereby when the arm 65 is disposed in its contact-receiving position as shown in FIG. 3, the slot 76 is aiigned with an L-shaped track extension 78 of the track 52 to receive contacts which fall one at a time into the slot 76 under the force of gravity and due to the gentle vibration of the mechanism 22. After receiving a contact, the piston rod 72 causes the arm to pivot in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3 from its contact receiving position to roll the contact within the slot 76 along the base plate 61 until the arm 65 comes to rest in its contact orienting position with the slot 76 disposed in alignment with a guide groove 81 in the base plate 61 to drop the contact into the groove 81. The groove 81 is an elongated groove, which extends from the arcuate edge 63 in a direction toward the pivot point 67, and which terminates in a closed end portion spaced from the pivot point 67, and the width of the groove 31 is approximately the same as the width of the slot 76 in the arm 65. It should be noted that if two contacts become accidentally stacked or nested with the sleeve of one receiving the point of another, the two contacts are overbalanced and fall as a unit out of the slot 76 back into the bowl 45 before the arm 65 reaches its contact orienting position so that the nested contacts may become separated due to the vibratory motion of the bowl.

As shown in FIG. 6, the groove 81 is inclined upwardly toward its closed end, and since the base plate 61 is inclined downwardly away from the bowl 45, the contact slides along the groove under the force of gravity and in so doing moves partially out of the groove 81 and partially up into an elongated slot 83 in the arm 65 disposed in alignment with the open-ended slot 76, the width of the slot 83 being approximately the same as the width of the groove 81. The bottom of the groove 81 is rounded, and its depth under the upper end portion of the slot 83 in the arm 65 must be at least slightly greater than the diameter of the sleeve 14 of the contact 12 to permit it to move under the force of gravity partially into the slot 83 in the arm 65.

As best illustrated in FIG. 7, a channel or depressed area 85 in the base plate 61 extends perpendicularly from the bottom portion of the groove 81 to an orienting slot 87 angularly spaced from the groove 81 and aligned with and disposed between the pivot point 67 and the track extension 78. The channel 85 is inclined upwardly from the bottom of the groove 81 to the upper surface of the base plate 61 adjacent the orienting slot 87, whereby when the arm 65 pivots away from the groove 81 in a counterclockwise direction to return to its contact-receiving position as shown in FIG. 3, the contact is guided by the channel 85 and moves upwardly to the upper surface of the base plate 65 to be dropped into the orienting slot 87 with the assistance of the gentle vibration of the mechanism 22.

It should be understood that the piston cylinder assembly 74 may either be a double-acting assembly so that the travel of the piston rod 72 determines the extent of the pivotal movement of the arm 65, or it may be a single-acting assembly with a spring-bias return arrangement and with a stop member (not shown) for limiting the return movement of the arm 65 to its contact-receiving position as shown in FIG. 3. Also, the

piston cylinder assembly 74 may either be a pneumatic assembly or an electrical solenoid assembly.

The orienting slot 87 includes an enlarged central portion 83 having a width which is substantially the same as the width of the slot 83 in the arm 65, and which is slightly wider than the diameter of the sleeve 14, and a pair of narrower end portions 92 and 94 which are slightly narrower than the diameter of the sleeve 14. The length of the slot 87 is slightly longer than the length of the contact 12. Thus, when a contact 12 is rolled onto the upper surface of the plate 61 over the slot 87, the sleeve 14 may engage the plate 61 over either one of the end portions 92 or 94, and since the end portions 92 and 94 are narrower than the diameter of the sleeve 14, the contact 12 tilts downwardly with its point 16 falling through the opposite narrower end portion and into the chute 24 with the sleeve 14 passing through the enlarged central portion 89.

Considering now the chute device 24 in greater detail, the chute device 24 is in the form of a block 96, which is secured to the underside of the base plate 61 and which has an inclined chute passage 97, the entrance to which is disposed in alignment with the orienting slot 87. The block 96 may preferably be composed of a clear plastic material so that the movement of the contacts is observable. The entrance to the passage 97 at the top portion of the block 96 is in the shape of an elongated slot, the length of which is approximately the same as the length of the orienting slot 87. The chute passage 97 is generally funnel-shaped, and opens into a slightly enlarged cylindrical passage 99, which receives the upper end of the guide tube 26 against an annular shoulder 101 at the outlet of the chute passage 97 so that the tube 26 extends out the bottom of the block 96 at an angle of approximately 31 relative to the bottom of the block 96 to direct the tube 26 downwardly toward the positioning mechanism 28. The guide tube 26 is also preferably composed of a clear plastic material so that the movement of the contacts from the chute device 24 to the orienting mechanism 28 may be observed.

Considering now the positioning mechanism 28 in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 9 and of the drawings, the mechanism 28 and the crimping mechanism 31, while not illustrated as such in the drawings, are downwardly inclined relative to the horizontal from the guide block 33 to facilitate entrance of a contact into the positioning mechanism 28. The mechanism 28 generally comprises a tube 103 having a plunger 105 reciprocably mounted therein, and having a slot 107 extending through its wall, and a chute device 109 secured to the tube with a chute 112 therein communicating with the lower end of the tube 26 and emptying into the slot 107 to guide the contact into the tube so that the contact falls with its sleeve 14 facing the crimping mechanism 31 and with its point 16 facing the plunger 105. A piston rod 114 of a piston cylinder assembly l 16 threadably receives the threaded end of the plunger 105 to drive the plunger between a retracted position as shown in FIG. 10 to the rear of the slot 107 to permit a contact to drop into the tube 103, and a forward position to slide the contact forwardly into the crimping position. In this regard, at rest the plunger 105 is disposed in its forward position to position the sleeve 14 of a contact 12 within the crimping mechanism 31, and after the crimping mechanism is activated by the operator, the plunger retracts to permit the next contact to drop into the tube 103 and then immediately moves forwardly to insert the next contact into the crimping position. A sleeve surrounds and forms a part of the plunger 105, and extends to the rear of the piston head 118 to block the slot 107 when the plunger 105 is disposed in its forward position.

As shown in FIG. 15, a resilient spring finger 122 is preferably carried by the plunger 105 and extends through a slot 123 therein for engaging the pin portion of a contact and frictionally holding it in position. As the plunger 105 moves forwardly it first receives the pin portion of a contact after which an outer portion of the finger 122 engages a reduced diameter portion 103a on the inside of the guide tube 103 to cam the finger 122 inwardly to frictionally engage the pin portion of the contact 122.

The chute device 109 is in the form of a block, which has an arcuate groove (not shown) in its bottom wall to receive and straddle the tube 103 over the slot 107, and which is fixed by means of a screw 126 to a collar 128 secured to a frame 131 for the crimping die linkage 37. The block 109 is preferably composed of a clear plastic material to permit the movement of the contact therethrough to be observed. A cylindrical passage 133 in the upper portion of the block 109 snugly receives the bottom end portion of the tube 26, which fits against a shoulder 135, and is inclined at an angle relative to the bottom portion of the block 109 to cause the contact 12 to pass through the slot 107 and contact the inside wall of the tube 103 at an angle relative thereto so that it falls under the force of gravity with its sleeve 14 moving in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 10. The chute 112 is generally triangularly shaped in cross-section and communicates with the passage 133, which terminates at a point spaced from the point of engagement of the point 16 of the contact as it strikes the inner wall of the tube 103 by a distance slightly greater than the length of a contact so that it may clear the tube 26 and fall into the tube 103. The side 137 of the chute passage 112 facing the crimping mechanism 31 at the left as viewed in FIG. 10 extends perpendicularly relative to the passage 133 to permit the contact 12 to fall into the tube 103.

Referring now to FIGS. 11 and 12, there is shown a resilient annular disc 139 which is positioned within the support frame 131 adjacent the neck of the funnelshaped guide opening 35 in the block 33 to receive the end portion of the sleeve 14 and to frictionally grip it so that a wire may be inserted into the sleeve 14 and hold the contact 12 in position during the crimping operation. The disc 139 is preferably composed of a resilient material, such as rubber. The disc 139 fits within an annular recess 142 in the front end of the frame 131 in axial alignment with a passage 144 therein, and has an outwardly flared flange portion 146 which fits into an outwardly flared complimentary-shaped portion 148 of the groove 142 for receiving an annular projection 150 of the block 33. The diameter of the hole in the annular disc 139 is slightly less than the diameter of the sleeve 14 to tightly grip it when it extends therethrough.

OPERATION Initially, the plunger 105 is disposed in its forward position with a contact disposed in the crimping position in the crimping mechanism 31. The arm 65 is disposed in its contact-receiving position as shown in FIG.

3. In order to start a cycle of operation, the operator inserts the end portion of a wire into the sleeve 14 of the contact via the guide opening 35, and then depresses a foot switch (not shown) to cause the cylinder 38 to move forwardly and activate the lever 37 for crimping the sleeve inwardly, and to cause the cylinder assembly 74 to pivot the arm 65 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3 from its contact-receiving position to its contact orienting position. In this regard, the vibrator 49 imparts vibratory motion to the bowl 45, whereby the contacts in the bowl 45 are fed seriatim in end-to-end relationship to the track extension 78 and thus into the slot 76 in the arm 65 while it is disposed in its contact-receiving position. In so doing, a contact enters the open-ended slot 76 in the arm 65 of the mechanism 22, which is downwardly inclined to cause the contact to drop into the slot 76, and which is gently vibrated to assist the movement of the contact. After the piston rod 72 of the piston cylinder assembly 74 moves forwardly to pivot the arm 65 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3 to its contact orienting position, the slot 76 is disposed in alignment with the groove 81. The contact then falls into the groove 81 and slides therealong under the force of gravity toward the closed end of the groove 81. As it slides along the upwardly inclinded groove 81, the contact moves partially out of the groove 81 and partially into the slot 83 in the arm 65.

After the contact comes to rest at the lower end of the groove 81, under the control of relays (not shown) the cylinder assemblies 38 and 116 cause the crimping dies to retract and the plunger 105 to retract to permit the operator to remove the wire and the contact fixed thereto from the crimping mechanism 31, and the cylinder assembly 74 permits the arm 65 to pivot in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3 until it reaches its initial position as shown in FIG. 3 to roll the contact from the groove 81 in a perpendicular direction relative thereto within the upwardly inclined channel 85. As it rolls along the channel 85, the contact moves out of the channel and into a position over the orienting slot 87. Depending upon the random orientation of the contact, the sleeve 14 of the contact is thus positioned over either one of the narrow end portions 92 or 94 of the slot 87, and the point 16 is positioned over the opposite narrow end portion and falls therethrough so that the contact tilts about its sleeve 1 4 which then drops through the enlarged central portion 89 of the slot 87. Thus, the contact falls with its point 16 facing forwardly into the downwardly inclined chute passage 97. As the contact is falling through the slot 87, the next contact waiting in the extension 78 enters the open-ended slot 76 of the arm 65 to permit another orienting cycle of operation to take place.

After dropping into the chute passage 97, the contact enters the upper end of the tube 26 and is guided by the tube as the contact moves under the force of gravity to the positioning mechanism 28. The contact drops from the lower end of the tube 26 into the inclined chute passage 1 12 and then falls through the slot 107 into the tube 103. The point 16 of the contact 12 engages the inner wall of the downwardly-inclined tube 103, and the contact then falls due to its overbalanced position and slides into engagement with the retracted piston head 1 18.

Thereafter, under the control of the relays (not shown), the piston rod 105 moves forwardly to the left as viewed in FIG. 10 to push the sleeve 14 of the contact into the crimping position within the crimping mechanism 31. In this regard, the end portion of the sleeve 14 is inserted into the annular friction disc 139, which frictionally grips it and holds it in position during a crimping operation.

I claim as my invention:

1. In apparatus for feeding and crimping contacts of a type having a hollow sleeve portion at one end and a reduced diameter pin portion at the other end,

crimping means arranged to crimp said sleeve portion inwardly into a rigid gripping relation to the end portion of a wire inserted therein,

positioning means for receiving a contact and moving the received contact to a crimping position in said crimping means,

contact supply means positioned above said positioning means and arranged to receive a supply of contacts and to feed contacts seriatim in end-to-end relation,

contact orienting means arranged to receive contacts one by-one directly from said supply means and to drop each one of the contacts with a predetermined orientation of said sleeve and pin portions, said orienting means including a base plate having an orienting slot extending therethrough,

an arm pivotally mounted on the base plate and having a receptacle thereon for receiving a contact from the discharge outlet of said supply means, and means for pivotally moving said arm to cause the contact to be transferred to said orienting slot, and

a feed tube having an upper end receiving said contacts dropped from said orienting means and a lower end connected to said positioning means.

2. In apparatus according to claim 1, said orienting means comprising a base plate inclined downwardly from a discharge point of said supply means and having an orienting slot spaced downwardly from said discharge point and a groove in generally parallel relation to said orienting slot, and a transfer plate disposed against the upper surface of said base plate for reciprocable movement relative thereto between first and second positions, said transfer plate having receptacle means open at the lower surface thereof for receiving a contact from said discharge point in said first position and then transferring the contact to said groove when moved to said second position and then transferring the contact to a position over said orienting slot when moved back toward said first position.

3. In apparatus according to claim 2, said groove having a lower surface inclined relative to the upper surface of said base plate to become progressively shallower to the lower end thereof, and said base plate having a channel inclined upwardly from said groove to said orienting slot.

4. In apparatus according to claim 2, said orienting slot being elongated and having a length slightly longer than the length of a contact, said orienting slot having an enlarged central portion slightly wider than the diameter of the sleeve of the contact and having a pair of opposite end portions slightly wider than the diameter of the pin of the contact and slightly narrower than the diameter of the sleeve of the contact.

5. In apparatus according to claim 1, further including means defining a chute passage disposed under the orienting slot and connecting the orienting slot to the 9 10 upper end of the feed tube to guide the contact from ing means for frictionally gripping the open end portion the orienting slot to the feed tube. of the sleeve of the contact to position it in the crimp- 6. In apparatus according to claim 1, further including position. I ing a resilient annular disc disposed within said crimp- 

1. In apparatus for feeding and crimping contacts of a type having a hollow sleeve portion at one end and a reduced diameter pin portion at the other end, crimping means arranged to crimp said sleeve portion inwardly into a rigid gripping relation to the end portion of a wire inserted therein, positioning means for receiving a contact and moving the received contact to a crimping position in said crimping means, contact supply means positioned above said positioning means and arranged to receive a supply of contacts and to feed contacts seriatim in end-to-end relation, contact orienting means arranged to receive contacts one-by-one directly from said supply means and to drop each one of the contacts with a predetermined orientation of said sleeve and pin portions, said orienting means including a base plate having an orienting slot extending therethrough, an arm pivotally mounted on the base plate and having a receptacle thereon for receiving a contact from the discharge outlet of said supply means, and means for pivotally moving said arm to cause the contact to be transferred to said orienting slot, and a feed tube having an upper end receiving said contacts dropped from said orienting means and a lower end connected to said positioning means.
 2. In apparatus according to claim 1, said orienting means comprising a base plate inclined downwardly from a discharge point of said supply means and having an orienting slot spaced downwardly from said discharge point and a groove in generally parallel relation To said orienting slot, and a transfer plate disposed against the upper surface of said base plate for reciprocable movement relative thereto between first and second positions, said transfer plate having receptacle means open at the lower surface thereof for receiving a contact from said discharge point in said first position and then transferring the contact to said groove when moved to said second position and then transferring the contact to a position over said orienting slot when moved back toward said first position.
 3. In apparatus according to claim 2, said groove having a lower surface inclined relative to the upper surface of said base plate to become progressively shallower to the lower end thereof, and said base plate having a channel inclined upwardly from said groove to said orienting slot.
 4. In apparatus according to claim 2, said orienting slot being elongated and having a length slightly longer than the length of a contact, said orienting slot having an enlarged central portion slightly wider than the diameter of the sleeve of the contact and having a pair of opposite end portions slightly wider than the diameter of the pin of the contact and slightly narrower than the diameter of the sleeve of the contact.
 5. In apparatus according to claim 1, further including means defining a chute passage disposed under the orienting slot and connecting the orienting slot to the upper end of the feed tube to guide the contact from the orienting slot to the feed tube.
 6. In apparatus according to claim 1, further including a resilient annular disc disposed within said crimping means for frictionally gripping the open end portion of the sleeve of the contact to position it in the crimping position. 